Michael's sister Sharon wrote to inform me that Michael died on Wednesday, of a sudden massive heart attack.

I hope we can remember his immense and unique contributions to Tarot history. I will try to see if Sharon can pull some of his Tarot work and put it in a file for posterity. It would be a shame to lose it.

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote:Michael's sister Sharon wrote to inform me that Michael died on Wednesday, of a sudden massive heart attack.

I hope we can remember his immense and unique contributions to Tarot history. I will try to see if Sharon can pull some of his Tarot work and put it in a file for posterity. It would be a shame to lose it.

Originally Posted by mjhurst
One additional detail about the earliest moralization of cards. Not only did Brother John mention Queens, he explained why his preferred deck (w/60 cards) was the best. Timothy Betts included this passage, and I posted it in a footnote to my review of your book.

John's arguments seem to parallel your own, as well as being emphatically period appropriate.

A couple years ago I posted an 1878 article discussing the British Museum's acquisition of one manuscript of Brother John's Tractatus, (as a postscript to a discussion of Theodore Low De Vinne's interpretation of Tarot). The article, by Sir Edward Augustus Bond, translates two substantial passages. The second passage includes the topic at hand, and indicates that Brother John explained the meaning of these terms. Unfortunately, the translation ends before finishing the explanation, and his explanation of the "greater authority" term compares the deck to two passages from Daniel in a way that is not immediately clear.

Also, there are some who make the game with four kings and eight ' marschalli' and the other common cards, and add besides four queens with four attendants, so that each of those four kings, with all the family of the whole kingdom, speaking of the chief persons, is there, and the number of the cards will then be sixty. And this manner of making the cards and in this number the most pleases me, and for three reasons: first, because of its greater authority; second, because of its royal fitness; third, because of its more becoming courteousness. First, I say, because of its greater authority, for we have its express figure in Holy Scripture, Daniel iii.; and again in that statue which King Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, saw in his dream, and which Daniel interpreted to him, the which statue had a golden head, a silver breast, a brazen belly, and legs of iron.

It is a shame that the long-rumored critical edition of the Tractatus has not materialized, nor even an English translation.

mikeh wrote:Here is my translation of Franco Pratesi's new note on John of Rheinfelden, in Italian at http://www.naibi.net/A/508-JORHEIN-Z.pdf. While adding nothing new, it highlights points of special value and seems to me an excellent summary of the literature and statement of the present state of the problems.

Yes, an excellent summary -- bravo to Franco and many thanks to you for the work of making it available to illiterate dolts like moi.

Very much appreciated.

Best regards,
Michael

As far Michael's forum activities are concerned, he finished twice with John of Rheinfelden. I wasn't aware, that he stopped writing at aeclectic in March 2012.

Most remarkable (my personal evaluation) had been the article "Fragments of Tarot History". It survived at ...http://www.luckymojo.com/tarot/tarothistref.txt
The article had been of special value in the year 2003, when Trionfi.com started.

Michael J. Hurst had further internet activities at the private email-lists Tarot-L and L-Tarot of yahoogroups.com

This is really a sad news. I followed for years his two blogs, it seems that Ludus Triumphorum worked until 2012. I consider a sign be his last post "The daunce and Song of Death"... My condolences to his family. Stay in peace.

Cláudio wrote:This is really a sad news. I followed for years his two blogs, it seems that Ludus Triumphorum worked until 2012. I consider a sign be his last post "The daunce and Song of Death"... My condolences to his family. Stay in peace.

Most remarkable (my personal evaluation) had been the article "Fragments of Tarot History". It survived at ...http://www.luckymojo.com/tarot/tarothistref.txt
The article had been of special value in the year 2003, when Trionfi.com started.

Michael J. Hurst had further internet activities at the private email-lists Tarot-L and L-Tarot of yahoogroups.com